Break IC, Recover MCU, Microcontroller Reverse Engineering

Criminal proceedings by the Serious Fraud Office have commenced against Gyrus Group and Olympus Corporation.
Gyrus Group Ltd, a UK subsidiary of Olympus Corporation, and Olympus have been charged with offences of making a statement to an auditor which was misleading, false or deceptive. Gyrus Group faces four charges and Olympus faces one charge.

The alleged offences are said to have taken place between April 2010 and March 2011 and arose from a global fraud case for which Olympus Corporation was prosecuted in Japan.

As a result of the global fraud prosecution in Japan, Olympus as well as three former executives Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, Hideo Yamada and Hishashi Mori were sentenced in July 2013.

The first hearing in this case will take place at Westminster Magistrates‘ Court on 10 September 2013.

Gyrus Group Ltd, formerly Gyrus Group PLC, was a Berkshire based medical systems company and was acquired by Olympus in 2008.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/design/32489

In the post-PC world, and in the midst an ecosystem war, Microsoft has finally bought Nokia. This deal is less about the devices themselves, and more about the Windows Phone platform.
In order to have any relevance in this new era, Microsoft must develop a strong ecosystem – at 4% market share, it still has a long way to go. The acquisition enables Microsoft to re-double its efforts with Windows Phone, and use the Lumia brand to truly innovate with the platform.

Microsoft is now able to control the full user experience, which will help avoid OS fragmentation (as has been the case with Android) and make it easier to attract developers to the platform. Microsoft is also now much better placed to win back some of the enterprise customers it has lost as a result of BYOD and consumerisation. It is now able to offer a full portfolio of hardware, software and services to customers.

The question that arises from the acquisition is what Microsoft intends to do with the Windows Phone platform now that it owns an OEM. Its long history with partners suggests that it is unlikely follow Apple’s lead and only allow its platform to be used on Nokia devices.

In order to grow market share, Microsoft will need to keep Samsung and HTC on board, and will need to alleviate any concerns that emerge as a result of the acquisition. Microsoft can use Nokia to really drive innovation on the platform, as Google is doing with Motorola. However, in order to succeed it will need to ensure it maintains good relationships with its partners.
—–

Autthor: by Adrian Drozd, Research Director, ICT Europe

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32477

Aiming to expand its business in the Middle East, Casio established Casio Middle East FZE in Dubai in March 2013 as its first sales and marketing company in the region.
Casio has been supplying products to countries in the Middle East through sales agents since the mid-1970s. In 1994, Casio set up a representative office in Dubai to function as a contact point for customers.

In recent years, markets in the Middle East, particularly the six member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Arab United Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia), have been thriving against the backdrop of robust economic growth and an expanding youth population. Accordingly, Casio regards the region as a strategic growth market and is pursuing business expansion there.

Starting in October this year, it will work together with sales agents in each of the countries and carry out sales and marketing activities tailored to these countries By promptly supplying products and services suitable for the lifestyles and cultures of local people, the company intends to popularize Casio products and expand its business in the region.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32464

German machinery and tool orders fell short three percent in real terms of last year’s result. Domestic business surged by ten percent, international business slumped by nine percent.
According to the less volatile three-month comparison, May to July 2013, incoming orders fell by four percent on a year earlier. Domestic orders dropped by three percent, foreign orders by five percent, the German Engineering Association (VDMA) reports.

“In a rather reluctant economic environment, July saw German investments in machinery and plants up ten percent compared with the previous year. Such movements are by no means unusual, in particular after a row of weak months. There is good reason to be sceptical whether July marks the beginning of the long-awaited turning point. However, at least the contracting foreign demand could be largely compensated,” VDMA Chief Economist Dr. Ralph Wiechers said when interpreting the result.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32448

The eternal topic of conversation amongst the manufacturers of printed circuit boards is the huge success of distributors of Chinese circuit boards on the European markets.
The majority of local manufacturers believe the reason to be the cheaper price. But that is not the whole truth. If we have a look at what sales arguments the majority of distributors have, we will see that all of them offer the complete service package (proto, small series, large series, and different technologies) in a single place, from a single supplier. Such a strategy makes the process of buying printed circuit boards very convenient for customers and excludes local manufacturers from direct contacts. At the same time, it can be seen that distributors are forced to use European manufacturers for fast proto deliveries. Otherwise they are not competitive in terms of the speed of delivery. It can be concluded that European factories should avoid cooperating with distributors, thereby creating the following positive consequences:

1. Distributors will lose part of their main sales argument, i.e. the policy of “getting everything you need in one place” is no longer possible.

2. European manufacturers will be able to establish direct contacts with the customers themselves, which would expand their customer portfolio and make them less vulnerable in terms of a sudden reduction in their customer database, i.e. while previously it was the distributors who was accumulating dozens of customers and acting as a single customer for the manufacturer, now the manufacturers will be able to win the majority of customers by themselves.

3. By reasonably using the difference between the sales price of a manufacturer and the sales price of distributors, it will be possible to reduce the price for customers. Why should customers pay extra money to distributors, if it is possible to order express deliveries directly from European manufacturers?

There can be just one conclusion: we should stop cooperating with distributors in terms of express deliveries, which will breathe new life into the process of the manufacturing of printed circuit boards!

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32441

FLIR Systems has been awarded an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract from the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division.
FLIR will support Naval Air Systems Command’s UH-1 program and the Vertical Takeoff Unmanned Aerial Vehicle program.

The contract is valued at USD 136.6 million and is for FLIR’s commercially developed, military qualified BRITE Star II gimbaled electro-optical/infrared imaging systems, BRITE Star I upgrades, and related spares and services.

Work under this award is expected to be performed out of FLIR’s facility in Wilsonville, OR, and is expected to be completed by August 2018.

“This contract award was the result of our team’s continued effort to bring highly advanced commercially developed solutions to government markets,” said Andy Teich, President and CEO of FLIR. “Our innovative technology, high reliability, timely delivery, low total cost of ownership, and global customer support drive our success in these markets. We are proud to have been selected to provide the U.S. Navy with these highly tactical solutions.”

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32437

The sun is finally rising on the global solar business, with growing demand in developing regions helping to ignite the first increase in industrywide capital spending in three years in 2014, according to IHS.
Global capital spending by producers of photovoltaic (PV) modules, cells, ingots, wafers and polysilicon is expected to rise by 30 percent in 2014 to reach $3.0 billion. This will mark the first time that expenditures have increased since 2011, when they grew 8 percent.

The projected growth will bring to an end a two-year period when spending dropped—by a stunning 72 percent in 2012, and by an anticipated 36 percent this year in 2013. During this period, PV industry capital spending will plunge by a gut-wrenching total of $10.6 billion, falling to $2.3 billion in 2013, down from $12.9 billion in 2011.

Solar industry players engage in capital spending in order to purchase manufacturing equipment and facilities used to produce PV raw materials or products. Spending has fallen in recent years because of massive overcapacity and oversupply, which has sent prices down throughout the supply chain.

However, a sustained increase in capacity from emerging economies is set to spur the 2014 recovery.

“South America, Africa and the Middle East now are leading the world in solar capacity additions—and they also are leading the capital expenditure segment of the PV business out of its slump,” said Jon Campos, solar analyst at IHS. “The overcapacity in PV production mainly has been concentrated in the developed solar regions of the United States, European Union and China. But as demand expands in new areas, PV manufacturers are gaining interest in producing their wares in these regions, resulting in new factory openings and boosting local capital spending.”

Dawn arrives for solar spending in emerging economies

After going up 23 percent in 2013, solar capital spending in emerging economies is expected to rise in the low 40 percent range for every year through 2017. In contrast, following zero growth in 2013, the established markets are expected to shrink by 5 to 10 percent during every year through 2017. Among all the emerging economies, the largest percentage increase in capacity is occurring in South America, Africa and the Middle East.

Emerging markets account for 7.9 gigawatts (GW) of the world’s total announced capacity for PV materials and products from ingots through modules, with the potential to climb to nearly 11GW by 2017. Capital investments for the foreseeable future will largely remain in the areas of crystalline wafer production, cell and module equipment.

Ending capital punishment

The expected increase in capital spending comes as a welcome and long-anticipated change from the dismal conditions that have plagued the market in recent years. The solar shakeout has peaked and an inevitable return to reinvestment in equipment and technology is due in the near term.

“Our research is showing a return to market equilibrium with regard to supply and demand,” Campos said. “Overcapacity seems to be correcting itself, and from the last few financial announcements, a handful of solar companies have returned to profitability and widened margins. The last piece of the recovery puzzle is capital spending and investment in high-efficiency technology.”

Spending spree

Beyond the rise in demand from emerging countries, other factors are contributing to the recovery in capital spending.
PV suppliers are engaging in new technology upgrades in order to enable higher efficiency and lower dollar-per-watt production costs. Equipment is also critical in allowing PV manufacturers to differentiate their products. Such differentiation can improve profitability and margins.

Current and potential trade conflicts concerning Chinese PV products could drive production to other locations, such as South America, Southeast Asia, Africa and the United States. In particular, U.S. states like Mississippi and Michigan are attractive regions for PV production because they provide cheap electricity and affordable land to manufacturers.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32408

A glut of large-sized LCD panels used in the television and IT sectors arose at the end of the first half this year as production consistently outpaced shipments.
A total of 47.7 million square meters (msqm) of LCD panels for use in televisions and public information displays were produced globally during the first six months of the year, according to a new LCD Fab and Inventory Management tracker from IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), a leading global source of critical information and insight. In comparison, shipments amounted to only 46.8 msqm. This meant that production for TV panels exceeded shipments by 2.0 percent.

Meanwhile, 18.4 msqm of LCD panels were produced during the same period for monitors, notebook computers and tablets comprising the IT sector. Shipments also came out lower at 18.0 msqm—similar to what occurred in the TV sector—so that IT panel production exceeded shipments by 2.6 percent.

“The large-sized LCD panel market in the first half of 2013 suffered from slow demand, primarily driven by an underperformance of sales in China, the world’s biggest LCD TV market,” said Ricky Park, senior manager for large-area displays at IHS. “In all, TV set makers proved unable to generate growth during the first half despite a slew of holidays—including the Lunar New Year and Labor Day—plus last-minute promos put up just before the end of the Chinese government’s subsidy program in May to encourage new consumer purchases.”

The same lackluster demand was in evidence for panels in the IT sector, where consumers and businesses alike showed little enthusiasm for buying new monitors or laptop PCs. Instead, devices like smartphones and tablets were the preferred items of purchase, selected for their appeal and ease of use, Park noted.

Given the slow demand, panel makers reduced utilization rates for their fabs to 79 percent during the first half—5 percent lower than the average recorded during the second half of 2012. Still, the deliberate curtailment in fab utilization was not enough to prevent an increase in accrued panel inventory. Accumulated stockpiles for TV panels amounted to 8.7 msqm, up 12 percent from the second half last year. For IT panels, the figure was 2.9 million msqm, an increase of 19 percent.

The slow demand and high inventory of the first half resulted in a price drop for panels during that time frame. The open-cell price of 32-inch high-definition, 60-hertz TV panels fell by 7.5 percent, while that for IT panels was down approximately 4 percent.

“The current excessive inventory levels portend badly for the rest of the year,” said Alex Kang, senior analyst for large-area displays at IHS. “Production is projected to exceed shipments again in the third quarter, and the second half overall is forecast to be negatively affected by the inventory overhang from the first half of the year.”

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32360

Aspocomp’s second quarter net sales remained on par with the previous quarter at EUR 4.8 million, which for the company is a rather disappointing result.
As a result of the sluggish market, the company has once again adjusted the full-year net sales forecast.
© Aspocomp

Aspocomp CEO, Sami Holopainen, gives his review of the quarter:

“Demand has remained slack in 2013. Every time the situation improved, a weaker period followed, and the market softened as summer approached. The telecommunications sector remained down. Our net sales remained on a par with the previous quarter at EUR 4.8 million and therefore the net sales of the first half of 2013 amounted to a disappointing EUR 9.8 million. The operating result was EUR -0.4 million, which was improved by a one-time item.

Cash flow from operations during the period was EUR 0.0 million. Aspocomp’s gearing ratio is negative and the financial ratio is still good, which has enabled us – and will enable us in the future – to step up our development of business with new customers and customer segments. In addition to the intensified sales efforts we have focused on stringent cost control and made arrangements to optimize our capacity utilization.

We still expect demand to pick up during the second half of 2013. However, due to the slow recovery, we have again adjusted our forecasts for full-year net sales and operating profit slightly downward.”

Outlook for the future

Net sales in 2013 are expected to amount to EUR 20-23 million and operating result to EUR -1.0-0.0 million.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32185